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“Wise Fools”

Jason Longstreth
11/01/09

Wise Fools

by Jason Longstreth

The other day, while I was straightening up my office, I couldn’t help but notice an old issue of Time Magazine that I had purchased several years ago. On the cover there was a picture of a few artifacts – the pieces of a skull. Underneath it, the caption said, “How Man Evolved – Amazing new discoveries reveal the secrets of our past.” There was also a second article that was promoted on the cover, “Plus: Stephen Jay Gould on the creationism wave.” As you might imagine, this was what had piqued my curiosity and caused me to buy the magazine in the first place, even though I had a pretty good idea of what I would find inside. And although I was disappointed with what I read, I was in no way surprised. Please allow me to share it with you.

The first article began with the following line: “Despite the protests of creationists….” This set the tone for the entire article. It was basically just another defense of evolution – describing how humankind has descended from the apes. However, this article contained a new approach to evolution. As most of you know, one of the greatest challenges to evolution is the fact that the scientific evidence to support such a theory is really non-existent. Contrary to what some may try to tell you, the fossil record simply does not support the theory. It does not show a steady evolution of apes into men over millions of years. Instead, it is full of “holes” and “missing links.” For a long time, scientists insisted that they just haven’t “found” those links yet. However, the argument presented in this article was a little bit different. Why? Because it seems to be growing more clear now that the scientists will never find those ‘missing’ links. Therefore, they have for the most part stopped looking for them. Instead, they now claim that evolution took place much more quickly than originally theorized—in jumps of trial and error instead of a steady progression. This makes evolution a series of fluke mutations instead of a steady, adaptive process. It also makes the holes in the fossil record irrelevant. The details of these articles are not all that important, but the two things that struck me the most were how unwilling these scientists are to recognize that evolution simply does not make sense and the arrogant attitude they displayed against “creationists.”

The second article was even worse! It was entitled, “Dorothy, It’s Really Oz.” In this article, Stephen Jay Gould criticized the Kansas Board of Education for voting to remove evolution and the Big Bang theory from their science curriculum. He talked about the ‘real world’ and insinuated that anyone who does not believe in evolution does not live in that “real world.” He also talked about the “misguided effort” of “religious Fundamentalists” to eliminate the teaching of evolution in public schools. In his defense of evolution, Mr. Gould offered three points. His first point was that every other Western nation teaches evolution in their schools without dispute (apparently suggesting that if everyone else is doing it, it must be right. I am somewhat reminded of what my mother told me as a boy, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge…”). Second, he argued that evolution is “as well documented as any phenomenon in science, as strongly as the earth’s revolution around the sun…” [Can you believe that!?!] and should therefore be considered a “fact” that only the “perverse” would deny. Third, he claimed that our view of evolution should have no effect on what we believe religiously—the two topics are separate. He closes his article with this sentence, “The road of the newly adopted Kansas curriculum can only spiral inward toward restriction and ignorance.”

Now, I am not really all that interested in talking about evolution. However, what I would like to discuss is the arrogant attitude that was portrayed in these two articles. Basically, they boasted on their brains. They said, “Of course I accept evolution. All smart people accept it. If you don’t accept it, you’re not smart.” They are full of themselves! They have let their “intelligence” and “knowledge” get in the way. I am reminded of what Paul wrote in the first chapter of Romans: “Professing to be wise, they became fools” (v.22). Often times, very intelligent people act stupid when it comes to spiritual things. Here is another passage: “For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Pet. 3:5-7). These people choose to be deceived. They refuse any other way but theirs.

This is the way it has always been. The wealthiest, smartest, etc. people usually do not choose to follow God. “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God” (1 Cor. 1:26-29). This is further explained earlier in the chapter when Paul wrote, “For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (vv.22-24).

I guess what I am saying is this—we should not be surprised when scientists and other “leaders” speak out against God. They have always resisted Him, and they always will. They have let their ‘wisdom’ make them fools. We need to make sure that we are not influenced by them, but instead continue to preach Christ crucified, the power and wisdom of God. Ω

Jason Longstreth writes from Tampa, FL.